Israeli Consul, Arab Students Clash Over Resettlement of Arab Refugees

"The Arabs say they will use their refugees to destroy Israel. We will not commit suicide by letting these refugees return."

With these strong words Moshe Aumann, director of the department of research and publications in Israel's New York consulate, last night summarized his government's reasons for refusing to allow Palestine Arab refugees to return to the homes they fled during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948.

Speaking to a frequently emotional meeting sponsored by the Student Zionist Organization, Aumann contended that "the Arabs are holding up the refugee problem as a weapon against Israel.

"The root of the problem," he contended, "is the absence of peace between Israel and the Arabs. Peace must come before we can find a lasting solution to the refugee problem." He repeated Israel's offer to negotiate all problems, including the refugees, with the Arab states, but said that Israel will make no more major conciliatory gestures on the refugee question because the Arab states have spurned conciliatory moves Israel made previously.

A sizeable group of Arab students in the audience objected vehemently to Aumann's account of the refugee's problem. One Egyptian student described the Israeli position this way: "You kick me out of my house, and then you ask me to negotiate."

"Let me return to my house," he said. "Then we can negotiate."

Aumann said the Palestinian Arabs left their homes chiefly at the urging of their own leaders who exaggerated stories of Jewish atrocities.